Our 10 month old black (small) working lab picks at beds and removes the stuffing. She ate her memory foam mattress last week and has now (very successfully) picked the seams of our other bitch's tuffie nest and its pretty much ruined. Any thoughts? She also pulls toys apart and empties them of the stuffing too. % golden retrievers and our 4 year old completely driven chocolate have never done this so I'm a bit perplexed as to what to do. Crate trained, both sleep in a crate at night. At a guess I'd say it might be a touch of separation anxiety as she does it when we are out of the kitchen or if we leave her (uncrated) for a couple of hours during the day. I'm about to order 2 extra tuff tuffies but this is getting expensive Thank you Jen
Hi Jen, I have this problem with Maisy who is 1 but for the last few months has become really destructive but I don't have an answer for you I am afraid. She is fine with bedding as when she is in her crate at night she does not touch anything, not her 'mattress', blanket or a top of mine she has as comfort. However, in the morning she sometimes pulls out her blanket and will lie and chew it and then start pulling and ripping at it. My main problem is with toys, any toy with stuffing becomes completely de-stuffed in about 20 minutes, just the carcass left. It is a complete waste of time buying new toys but if we didn't she would have nothing and she really enjoys ripping them apart. I have tried all the 'tough' brands - ha, ha, not that tough. Even those really thick rubber type ones that are 'indestructible', they just get chewed into pieces. I wouldn't mind so much if they lasted maybe a week, but not even a day sometimes. It is just what she does when she is bored and wants to play, if she can't go out in the garden or there are no other dogs or humans to play with, it is her way of amusing herself. She has root chews and such to gnaw on and they keep her interest for a bit but it depends on her mood, sometimes she just wants to rip and tear. I am wondering if she will grow out of it?
My two older Labs (now three and a half) were awful for destroying toys and beds when young. They grew out of it and don't do it anymore. Not all dogs do grow out of it, but in the meantime, I just used vet bed as bedding. It got a couple of holes in it, but it's pretty good at staying in one piece, and the dog doesn't get the opportunity to practice bad habits.
Thank you both, helpful responses and much appreciated. We have put vetbed in her crate and that is better undoubtedly. Hoping she will grow out of it. Thought i'd stuff a couple of black large extra tuff kongs for when I leave them. Stuffed them well, popped them into the freezer and then crated Pipsqueek when we went out last night - she ate the thinnest end of the kong right off! However, presumably it kept her entertained
Hi Hoping for some advice! We have a 7 month old Lab & he has now started chewing his blankets that are in his crate,he also bring them out the crate into the living room and takes them off into garden for a chew at times, so hes eating bits of the inside and material, Any suggestions re what type of bedding he can have in his crate? & do I throw away blankets now?
You can get something called vet bed which is virtually indestructible. My Cassie who is now 2 went through a brief phase of chewing her bed at around your pup's age, and I got her some then and it did the trick.
Hi selina27 Thanks for replying, I had seen something called vet bed on Amazon. Is it like a blanket? I was thinking of even getting some carpet to put in crate! Jax isn't chewing/eating the bed constantly but I think he has swallowed some of it and he was a tiny bit sick this morning! Which is not ideal for him.
Both of our Labs enjoy destroying stuffed toys. Other than making a bit of a mess, it doesn't cause a problem, so we just let them do it. If it is particularly cute toy we may put it away for a while, but mostly we let them be "Shiva, the destroyer of worlds". They don't eat the squeakers or the stuffing, they just leave it for us to step on and clean up. I have a Polar Bear stuffed toy on the back of the couch at our cabin. They both understand that it is mine, not theirs, and they leave it alone . They don't chew up dog beds, blankets or furniture, though I think they did chew on dog beds a bit when they were pups.
Not exactly, it's sort of pseudo fur which is surprisingly soft and comfy and wicks any moisture away
